Numeros y cantidades Numbers and Quantities

Carlos y Priya llegan al mercado. Hay muchos puestos con comida. Priya esta sorprendida. Carlos dice que es el mejor mercado. Tienen veinte euros para gastar.

Carlos and Priya arrive at the Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid on a Saturday morning. The market is large and very lively. There are more than a hundred stalls with fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and cured meats. Priya looks around with wide eyes. 'There is so much variety here,' she says. Carlos smiles and replies: 'It is the best market in Madrid. Here they sell everything from Huelva strawberries to Manchego cheeses. We have twenty euros to spend. Let us see how many things we can buy with that money.'

Priya va al puesto de frutas. Quiere un kilo de manzanas y medio kilo de fresas. La vendedora pesa las frutas. Las manzanas son de Asturias. Las fresas son de Huelva.

Priya approaches the fruit stall. An older woman tends the stall with a friendly smile. 'Good morning. I would like a kilo of apples and half a kilo of strawberries, please,' says Priya in Spanish. The vendor weighs the apples on an old-fashioned scale. 'Very good, madam. The apples are very sweet today, they are from Asturias. The strawberries are from Huelva, the best in Spain. I also have oranges at seventy cents a kilo and bananas at ninety cents. How much does all of this cost?' asks Priya.

La vendedora dice que el precio es tres euros cincuenta. Priya ofrece tres euros. La vendedora acepta tres euros y veinte. Priya paga el dinero.

The vendor calculates the price quickly. 'The apples cost two euros a kilo, so that is two euros. The strawberries cost three euros a kilo, so half a kilo is one euro fifty. In total it is three euros fifty, madam.' Priya thinks for a moment and says politely: 'Madam, I offer you three euros for everything, please. We are students and do not have much money.' The vendor laughs warmly. 'All right, three euros twenty. That is my final price. The strawberries are very expensive this week because the harvest in the south is poor.' Priya accepts and pays.

Carlos y Priya van al puesto de quesos. Hay muchos tipos de quesos. Carlos pide doscientos gramos de queso manchego. El vendedor corta el queso.

Carlos takes Priya to the cheese stall. There are cheeses of all sizes and colours: cured Manchego cheese, goat's cheese, Cabrales blue cheese, and many more. The vendor is a thin man with a white apron. 'Good morning, young people. What can I get you?' Carlos replies: 'I would like two hundred grams of semi-cured Manchego cheese, please. And also, how much are those hundred grams of blue cheese?' The vendor cuts the Manchego cheese with precision. 'The Manchego is two euros twenty. The blue cheese is one euro eighty per hundred grams. It is from Asturias, excellent quality.'

Carlos y Priya suman todo el dinero gastado. Tres euros veinte mas dos euros veinte son cinco euros cuarenta. Les quedan catorce euros sesenta. Quieren comprar mas cosas.

At the end of the shopping, Carlos and Priya add up everything they have spent. Priya takes out her notebook and writes down the prices. 'Let us see: three euros twenty for the fruit, two euros twenty for the Manchego cheese. How much is that in total?' Carlos calculates aloud: 'Three euros twenty plus two euros twenty is five euros forty. We still have fourteen euros sixty left from our initial budget of twenty euros.' Priya smiles with satisfaction: 'Perfect. We can buy more things. Look, over there is an olive stall. How much are a hundred grams?' Carlos laughs: 'Let us find out.'